Modern medicine and homoeopathy : an address delivered at the British Homoeopathic Congress, held at Birmingham, September 28th, 1870 / by J.J. Drysdale.

  • Drysdale, John James, 1817-1892.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Modern medicine and homoeopathy : an address delivered at the British Homoeopathic Congress, held at Birmingham, September 28th, 1870 / by J.J. Drysdale. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the opposite of what is observed in health. Thus it may happen, if we give a full dose of alrojua to a patient with a pulse of 120 and higher, a dry and hard tongue, and pupils measuring that after 10, 20, or 30 minutes, when the action of the bella- donna is fully developed, the pulse will be decreased, the tongue be moist, and the pupils contracted. Two similar effects, the one arising from a local irritation and the other from the pre- sence of belladonna, like spreading circles on a smooth sheet of water, interfere with and neutralise each other. The coincidence of the two actions aud a corresponding augmentation of the effects may be possible, but this I have never witnessed. It appears, therefore, that the stimulant action of belladonna is converted in great measure in febrile diseases into a tonic and sedative influence.” This is simply the language of homoeopathy, and is all that we have been contending for in theory and practice for years. The very illustration of the mutual extinction of waves of similar periods is one that has been used several times independently by different writers—by myself among the number in the year 1846. But, besides this, Harley dissociates the sympathetic fever from local inflammation, and maintains that it can be cured inde- pendently of the local inflammation, and on its removal the latter is quickly relieved. This, again, is nothing but the theory and daily practice of the homoeopathic school. We assume to have no specifics for concrete diseases, but remedies for certain elementary morbid states, which are, as it were, dissected out by different medicines in the different phases of a disease. As, for example, aconite or belladonna is given at the early stage of inflammatory and feverish diseases, to be followed by the local specifics at later stages. It is possible Dr. Harley does not know all this. We gladly give him the benefit of the doubt, but we must remind him that the onus of disproving the charge of plagiarism always lies with the assumed re- discoverer. We hope and trust that after proper study of the question he will follow the example of Dr. Horner and Dr. Reith. Printed by W. Davy & Son, 8, Gilbert Street, W.